How Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and more stacked up in Q3 2017: The top 7 carriers

The third-quarter earnings season is now closed, so it's time to see how the nation's top wireless carriers stacked up against each other in terms of key metrics.

In this report you will find a ranking of the top seven U.S. wireless carriers in the third quarter of 2017 by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. You'll also find major metrics such as churn.

This list does not include resellers or MVNOs such as TracFone Wireless. (To see how TracFone did in the third quarter, click here.)

So what are you waiting for? Dig in!

Top U.S. Wireless Carrier Metrics Q3 2017

 

 

   

Subscribers (millions)

Net Adds (millions)

Postpaid Smartphone Net Adds (mil)

Blended Churn (Avg Monthly)

1

Verizon Wireless

148.874

1.642

0.486

1.19%

2

AT&T

138.826

2.323

0.099

1.32%

3

T-Mobile

70.731

1.329

0.647

2.42%

4

Sprint

53.074

0.405

0.262

2.39%

5

US Cellular

5.089

0.066

0.044

1.51%

6

C Spire*

n/a

     

7

Shentel

0.953

-0.027

0.003

3.72%

             

Rankings are by number of subscribers, retail plus wholesale.

Subscribers include retail and wholesale connections of both traditional and new connected device categories (e.g., M2M). Verizon Wireless subscribers include Strategy Analytics' estimates for wholesale and connected device volumes. Sprint subscribers and net adds exclude affiliate subscribers, but include wholesale.

Blended Retail ARPU is derived from reported postpaid and prepaid retail/branded ARPU, unless reported separately by carrier.

T-Mobile postpaid smartphone net adds, blended churn and blended ARPU are estimated or derived by Strategy Analytics.

*C-Spire is a private company and does not reveal its metrics, estimated to have 1.0 million subscribers.

Source: Strategy Analytics, based on carrier reports